Call Kurtis: My Phone Number Used To Belong To A Business; How Do I Make The Calls Stop?

A Yuba City woman's new phone number used to belong to a pizza place. When she couldn't get the calls to stop, she called Kurtis.

Cheril Herrmann was fed up with calls from people looking for pizza.

"We're not Leonardi's Pizza, don't call, they call back," said Herrmann. "It's crazy, you don't have any way of making it stop."

Herrmann got her new AT&T phone number in February.

Her number used to belong to Leonardi's Pizza, once located inside a Yuba City grocery store before closing more than a year ago.

She thought AT&T should help remove the listings online but AT&T says listings on sites like Yelp and Yahoo! are out of their control.

Consumer advocate Richard Holober says there's no law requiring phone companies to keep a number dormant for a certain period.

But, he doesn't think business numbers should ever be assigned to residential customers.

"When it's you at home, getting these calls, it's a much bigger pain in the neck," said Holober.

We've learned AT&T re-assigns any of its phone numbers within 30 to 60 days; 30 days for Comcast; Frontier says it won't re-assign a business number for a year; and Surewest waits 485 days.

After the hassle, we got AT&T to agree to change Herrmann's number and waive the $36 change fee. But, she turned down the offer.

"Everybody knows this phone number," said Herrmann. "It's a big hassle to change it."

Over time, she's hoping the phone calls for pizza will stop.

One thing you can do before getting a number is ask if it ever belonged to a business.

If they can't tell you, then Google it to see what comes up.